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Win the right clients · Say your price · Sell like yourself
You’re great at your work, and new clients still arrive by luck.
Referrals have carried you this far, and you can’t predict the next one. This page will show you how to build a sales strategy for your small business, so you can stop depending on luck.
Written by Simone Cimiluca-Radzins, CPA
A good prospect books a call, and you can feel it slipping away.
Say you run a service business, and most of your work has come from referrals. A good prospect books a call on Tuesday. You explain everything you do, and when the price comes up, you soften it before anyone asks you to.
They tell you they need to think about it, and on Friday you’re wondering whether to follow up or leave them alone.
That isn’t a talent problem, and you don’t need a new personality. You need a system that does the same good things every time, so each sale doesn’t depend on how you feel that day.
Does this sound familiar?
Signs your small business needs a real sales strategy
- Most of your work comes from referrals, and you can’t predict the next one.
- Good prospects say “let me think about it” and disappear.
- You soften your price, or discount before anyone asks.
- You overexplain on calls because you’re trying to prove your value.
- You aren’t sure whether to follow up or leave people alone.
- Your website and your sales calls tell two different stories.
What it’s costing you
Selling without a strategy is costing you clients who already wanted your help.
It costs you money, because every lost sale is someone who was close to saying yes. It costs you time, because you start from scratch on every call, and it wears down your confidence, because each quiet no feels personal.
If nothing changes, you’ll keep riding good months and slow months, because your income will depend on who happens to refer you.
Where to start this month
A simple sales strategy for your small business
Write down what already works
List your last five clients and how each one found you. Your best channel is hiding in that list, so you’ll know where to spend your time first.
Decide your price before the call
Write the number down, and say it without adding anything after it. Deciding ahead of time keeps your price steady when someone pushes.
Set your follow-up in advance
Choose what you’ll send and when, such as one note two days after the call. When the follow-up is already decided, you stop guessing and they stop slipping away.
Where did your last five clients come from? Write down the answer, because it will show you the one place to focus this month.
Who’s writing this
I’m Simone, and I’ve spent close to 20 years helping businesses grow.
I’ve closed deals up to $50,000 in my own business, and I’ve done it by building trust, because that’s the way of selling I teach.
I’m a CPA, growth strategist and keynote speaker. I worked at PwC, 21st Century Fox and Capgemini, and for more than a decade I’ve been on my own, working with startups, small businesses and entrepreneurs. I’ve taught this work on stage at Lisbon AI Week and Google DevFest.
“I felt completely held, seen, and understood in who I am and what I offer.”
Alison Pagano, Entrepreneur
The Growth Architecture
The Growth Architecture will help you win the right clients on purpose.
The Growth Architecture is my 12-week one-on-one program. It will help you sharpen how you explain your work, say your price with confidence and build a sales system that sounds like you, so new clients stop depending on luck.
Questions
Questions business owners ask about sales
How do I build a sales strategy for a small service business?
Start by listing how your last five clients found you, then decide your price before each call and set your follow-up in advance. Those three steps give you a process you can repeat and improve.
Why do prospects say they need to think about it?
Prospects usually say that when something is still unclear or when a worry hasn’t come out yet. Asking what they’d need to see to feel sure either way helps you find the real hesitation while you’re still in the conversation.
What is the difference between a sales process and a sales funnel?
A sales funnel is the path someone takes from first hearing about you to booking a call. A sales process is what you do once they’re in the conversation. You’ll need both, because a full funnel can’t help you if the conversation falls apart.
How does The Growth Architecture help with sales?
The Growth Architecture is a 12-week one-on-one program that covers your sales along with your finances, your operations and your leadership. You’ll build your own sales language and practice it on real conversations, so it sounds like you when it counts.
The Growth Architecture is education and coaching. It is not personalized financial, tax, legal, investment or mental health advice, and results depend on your business and your work.
Ready to fix this for good?
The Growth Architecture will help you build the business you started this for, so you can earn more, keep more and get your time back.